Possible safety issues found at Southwest

A congressional investigation has found more potential safety problems at Southwest Airlines Co., and possible lapses at other U.S. carriers are being reviewed, a senior lawmaker said Friday.

Rep. James Oberstar, a Minnesota Democrat and chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said his panel had received information from government airline safety inspectors who say their reports about violations are routinely not acted upon by superiors at the Federal Aviation Administration.

“So many FAA inspectors have given up reporting failures by carriers because there is a cozy relationship between the FAA management and airline management,” Oberstar said. “That has to stop.”

Oberstar’s comments came one day after the FAA proposed a record $10.2-million fine against Southwest for failing over a period of several months in 2006 and 2007 to complete required aircraft safety inspections on 46 older 737 jetliners.

The airline voluntarily notified the FAA about the lapse in checks for fuselage cracks, but continued to fly the planes until the work was done -- about eight days. Safety and congressional officials said the aircraft should have been grounded.

Southwest, the largest low-cost carrier, said it consulted with the FAA and thought it was in compliance with all rules. The airline said the fine was unfair.

There were no safety incidents that resulted from flying the uninspected planes, officials said.

But Oberstar said Southwest had “systematic flaws” in monitoring inspections required by the government, and asserted a certain complacency at the “highest levels” of FAA management.

And there are two other investigations of possible lapses at Southwest.

Senior FAA officials are investigating a potential safety issue that they will not disclose and, separately, Oberstar said the airline may have failed to complete mandatory rudder inspections on 70 planes.

“There is a strong likelihood that there were similar lapses at other carriers,” he said.

Oberstar did not identify any other airlines.

FAA officials said there was a “twofold” breakdown in inspection monitoring at Southwest and called it an isolated case that began as an inadvertent misstep by the airline.

Shares of Southwest fell 31 cents Friday to $12.19.